Q: Marijuana. Do you support legalization of marijuana? Kerlikowske: No. Q: And why is that? Kerlikowske: It’s a dangerous drug. Q: Now, why is it a dangerous drug? Kerlikowske: It is a dangerous drug. There are numbers of calls to hotlines for people requesting help from marijuana. A number of people that have been arrested, and we test people and have data on this, that are arrested throughout the country, come in to the system with marijuana in their system, as arrests.

One of the reasons why people have been optimistic about Kerlikowske’s appointment is because he was the police chief in a city that tolerated the annual Hempfest gathering. At Hempfest, hundreds of thousands of people gather in a park near downtown Seattle, many of whom use marijuana while they’re there, and yet bad things almost never happen. People listen to music, they discuss drug law reform, they buy bongs, they hang out on the rocks along the Sound, and they happily mingle among the Seattle Police officers on duty for the event.

If marijuana were such a dangerous drug, how would that even be possible? I’ve been to 5 Hempfests so far, and I haven’t seen so much as an argument, let alone a fight or some other incident (ok, I’ve seen arguments in the Hemposium tent, but those are over politics).

I understand that Seattle is a bit more progressive on this when compared to the rest of the country (although you wouldn’t know it by looking at the state legislature), but that’s not an excuse for Kerlikowske to lie. As the police chief who sent his officers to 8 Hempfests, he knows full-well that marijuana is no more dangerous a drug than alcohol. In fact, I dare him to find any of his former officers who says they’d rather be assigned to keep the peace at an event the size of Hempfest where people were consuming alcohol instead.

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The whole approach of arguing with liars is wrong. You can’t argue with liars. You have to say they are liars. You have to say it again and again as long as they are lying. You can’t tolerate one single lie, and arguing back tolerates despicable lying.

“I understand that Seattle is a bit more progressive on this when compared to the rest of the country”

Understatement of the century, Lee. You’ve got to remember that Gil’s in a national post now, and he has to moderate his opinions to a national level, which means that he has to deal with people and officials who to this day still think Nancy Reagan was speaking Gospel truth back in the 80’s.

“I understand that Seattle is a bit more progressive on this when compared to the rest of the country”

Please, in every city in the country with over 300,000 people, the citizens and cops will tell you they have more bullshit to worry about than weed.

I am not sure who Gil is trying to appease. If it was so dangerous, than why are these the SPD standards for hiring?

Have not used Marijuana within the three (3) years prior to the date of this Acknowledgment of Minimum Standards Regarding Illegal Drug Use, and Have not used Marijuana more than twenty-five (25) times within the ten (10) years prior to the date of this Acknowledgment of Minimum Standards Regarding Illegal Drug Use, and

“There are numbers of calls to hotlines for people requesting help from marijuana.”

If there were calls requesting help, it most likely was from people wanting to know where they could buy some pot!

This is a substance that we have to finally realize isn’t the Black Death nor a cure-all for everything wrong. Legalize this intoxicant and regulate it. Stop making criminals out of people who choose to enjoy this substance.

These politicians are ALL lying sacks of shit…Republican and Democrats. They’ll look you in the eyes and TELL you the moon is made out of green cheese, and that all right thinking Americans know this. Sure you can try to argue with them using logic and science. You can point to 5,000 studies that show the moon is NOT made out of green cheese, but they will just look you in the face and say it is and we all know it. F**K you Gil, Bush, Obama and the rest of you chickenshit politicians. It’s 2009, and we’re still making something like pot illegal because of “magical” beliefs. I can buy 5 cartons of cigarettes and a case of Vodka this afternoon, but a single joint will get me arrested? WTF! That is not logic or science. That is made up political bullshit. That is all these political pussies (that’s Dems and Repubs) trying to look “tough on crime”(tm). Scumbags. Man…I need a joint to calm down.

Where is YOUR favorite drug in the danger list? The Lancet (not a political journal, but a Medical journal) did a big study using that fancy scientific method. Ranked drugs by danger/damage, and it’s not quite what you’d think. IF we were a science/fact/reason based species, and we’d just draw a line on that chart SOMEWHERE and make drugs beyond a certain ‘danger point’ illegal, and the rest would be legal. Is that going to happen? Reality? Reason? Nope….lets just throw darts fucking randomly at a list and see what we hit and we’ll make THOSE drugs illegal.

Perhaps either Mr. Kerlikowske was taken behind the woodshed by the people he worked for when he came here, or else he’s been taken behind the woodshed by the people he now works for once he got to DC.

Obviously Kerlikowske can’t advocate the legalization of pot even if he believes it’s relatively harmless…the Obama administration would be demonized by the right as being soft on drugs.

I’m becoming more and more disenchanted with some of Obama’s moves..not the least of which is this “indefinite detention” crap…I mean, did we donate, work for and elect a Democrat who is turning out to be nothing more than a Republican lite?

As SJ implies, the science behind the demonization of marijuana is weak, to say the least, and the science behind the fact that it is a relatively benign substance is very strong. If we limited the scope of the argument to facts, as proven by scientific surveys and studies, maybe we could have a rational debate about this. As it is, much of the ‘debate’ surrounding legalization of weed is clouded by the propaganda war that has been waged on it for much of the last 80 years or so.

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